


Hidden Costs

by Cybra



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28304526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cybra/pseuds/Cybra
Summary: If she'd been a bit older and more experienced, she would've asked what the catch was. However, Black Heron's offer had been exactly what she'd wanted to hear.After her date with Fenton, she finally started to realize that she'd made a serious mistake.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	Hidden Costs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sinclaironfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinclaironfire/gifts).



> **A/N:** Merry Christmas, Sinclaironfire! I’m not sure if this is exactly what you had in mind, but it was a real fun challenge to write!
> 
> **Disclaimer:** _Ducktales_ belongs to the Walt Disney Company.

“You’re smart, Miss Dee. Very smart, but I don’t want you throwing away your future.”

Gandra Dee slammed her hands down on her advisor’s desk. “I’m _not!_ I’m pushing the boundaries, putting us farther ahead!”

Dr. Archimedes adjusted his glasses, the owl looking very put-out. “You are, but you’re disregarding safety protocols, _basic ethics – ”_

“They were fine! What’s the big deal? We do blind studies all the time!”

“The ‘big deal’, young lady, is that those other blind studies have plenty of research to ensure the safety of the test subjects _before_ we test them! You were very lucky that young man had his medication on him to counteract the allergic reaction he had!”

“It was important data!”

_“You could have killed someone!”_ Now Dr. Archimedes rose from his desk, leaning forward to meet her glare for glare. “We are scientists, _not_ butchers!”

“Is that you or the board talking?” Gandra sneered.

His glare grew more heated. “Gandra – ”

“The results I got will help us further understand the effects of nanomachines on the avid body, but if I had to clear everything with the board first, it would’ve taken years if ever! All the board worries about is keeping their funding.”

“This has nothing to do with funding! You want to help people? Wonderful, but scientists no longer accept trading unnecessary blood for knowledge!”

“It was an accident, and the guy was fine!”

“An accident that could have been _easily_ avoided and not sent a man to the hospital for follow-up treatment! If you can’t understand that, then perhaps this isn’t the place for you!”

Gandra’s hands curled into fists. “You know what?! I agree!”

She spun around and stormed out of the office.

* * *

“I have to say that I’m very impressed with your work.”

Gandra looked up from the trunk of her car, the last of the boxes from her dorm room in her hands. “Excuse me?”

The woman smiled, her long beak giving an almost sinister edge to the expression that wasn’t helped by her narrowed eyes. “I said I’m impressed with your work. Honestly, old Archimedes should’ve stood up for you.”

Gandra couldn’t help smiling back at the support. “Thanks, Miss…?”

“Call me ‘Black Heron’. And, honestly, I could really use someone like you in my lab: Someone who’s not afraid to get her hands dirty, to get the results we need without having to cut through miles upon miles of red tape.”

“Probably still have to bow to funding,” Gandra said sourly.

“Oh don’t worry about that,” Black Heron told her. “Those of us at FOWL never have to worry about such things.”

It sounded too good to be true. With a few more years’ experience, Gandra would’ve asked what the catch was.

Unfortunately for her, she did not have those years of experience.

Instead of jumping into her car and driving away, Gandra said, “I think I’d like to hear more about FOWL.”

* * *

Gandra returned home from Waddle HQ, feeling deeply unsettled. She imagined she could feel the nanomachines flowing through her veins and in her eyes crawling about each time she thought of Beaks’s transformation.

Honestly, Beaks had been a perfect test subject in that he voluntarily overdosed on the nanites due to his boredom. If he had stopped to think for five seconds, he would’ve found it strange that despite her strict instructions to only take _one_ vial, she’d brought along an entire minifridge of them. It honestly didn’t make much sense on the surface and should’ve raised all sorts of red flags. If he’d followed instructions, she would’ve gotten the data she needed on how the nanites reacted with a different subspecies of avid which was good enough. Him providing her with overdose data had been a pleasant bonus.

But then…

She flopped onto her back on the bed. “Not your fault, Gandra. How were you supposed to know Fenton would have _kids_ helping him with a date?”

“Fenton”. Not “Cabrera” like she’d been calling him before tonight, back when things were simple and all she needed was to trade a little espionage for a test subject. The eager young scientist-slash-superhero had gotten under her feathers.

_“You’re a hypocrite.”_ Her memory unhelpfully conjured up the clear disdain he’d felt towards her; disdain tinged with…disappointment?

“I’m not,” she told herself flatly. “I’m not a hypocrite. I’m a scientist who gets the job done.”

She remembered the lab, seeing the magnet which attracted gold. It’d make McDuck even more wealthy than he already was. Fenton… _Cabrera_ was beholden to his boss’s whims who wouldn’t spend a penny unless it made him more money.

Only Fen- _Cabrera’s_ pet project didn’t fit. Perpetual energy with no fuel costs? True, McDuck could still charge for upkeep of facilities for housing the little wonder and converting the energy into electricity, but she was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to charge _much._ Add to that Fe- _Cabrera’s_ project probably cost millions, and it’d likely take ages to beak even. Right now it was probably on the books as a hole McDuck was tossing money down.

“So it’s like my deal with FOWL. Big deal,” she muttered. “McDuck still ultimately gets paid back with eventual interest.”

So how to explain Gizmoduck? McDuck earned nothing from that one, and Fen- _Cabrera_ was out risking his neck every day for jobs that should’ve been handled by the cops. Honestly, _both of them_ were losing on that deal. One of these days, F- _Cabrera_ might even end up killed.

It could even be one of her own inventions at FOWL that did the deed.

She grabbed a pillow, rolled onto her side, and pressed it against her ear, muffling all sound from the outside but unable to quiet the doubts screaming in her mind.

* * *

“Excellent work,” Director Buzzard said, looking at the feather Black Heron had taken off of McDuck during their fight. “A shame you couldn’t take out more potential heirs, too, but the important thing is that the mission was accomplished. For once.”

Gandra swallowed thickly at that. Honestly, she probably could’ve done worse to the kids than use a flash-bang on them, but she hadn’t wanted to seriously hurt them. Honestly, she couldn’t even stomach the idea. Adults putting their lives at risk was one thing; kids were another.

_“It seems you have an ethical line you won’t cross after all,”_ her conscience said blandly in the voice of Dr. Archimedes.

Her stomach twisted in knots as she focused on the feather. More than one, it seemed. What they planned to do with that feather crossed lines she hadn’t realized she’d drawn in the sand.

“Good work. Dismissed.”

Gandra left the director’s office, heading to her lab. Upon entering, she stared at half-finished projects that had been delayed significantly. She used to accomplish so much more before the Mark Beaks assignment.

She pulled out her phone and stared at Fenton’s number. It had been months since their one date, and he knew she wasn’t to be trusted. If she called him, he’d recognize her voice and hang up.

_‘Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d gloat about how in over my head I am.’_

No, that didn’t fit with the man she’d spent an evening with. He’d probably try to pull her out of it even once he knew all she had done with FOWL.

She switched to her phone’s browser, pulling up the last article she’d been reading about Gizmoduck’s latest rescue. From what she could tell, he’d been modifying the suit over the past few months, perfecting it to better help others.

She chewed her lower beak. Since their date, her conscience had needled her, reminding her that her whole issue with people holding her back had been because she’d wanted to get results to help people faster. Director Buzzard had told her that they would change the world to be better, safer. Taking risks for the greater good was more than acceptable; it should be encouraged. He’d expertly stroked her ego…

…and she’d bought it hook, line, and sinker.

She switched back to the phone app, once more staring at Fenton’s number. Should she call? Would he even give her a chance to talk?

She needed a second opinion. She scrolled through her contacts and hit a number she hadn’t reached out to in years. She held the phone to her ear, listening to it ring.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Dr. Archimedes, this is – ”

“You have reached the office of Dr. Archimedes. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message after the beep.”

His answering machine. Well, maybe that would work better.

At the beep, she said, “Hi, Dr. Archimedes. This is Gandra Dee. You were my advisor a few years ago. Listen, I really need to talk to you. I need your advice and…” She swallowed. “I owe you a big apology. Call me back so we can set up a time to meet up. Bye.”

She ended the call, breathing out a sigh. Now there was nothing to do but –

Her vision suddenly started jumping about as the nanomachines in her body unleashed a massive surge of electricity to her nervous system. She screamed, collapsing to the floor and writhing as her muscles spasmed.

“That’s enough, Heron,” the director’s voice ordered.

Gandra quivered on the floor as the agony stopped, her body still twitching from the aftershocks. Her vision finally settled though it was blurry from tears. Still, she could make out Director Buzzard flanked by Black Heron and Steelbeak, the trio standing above her.

“You really messed up, little chickadee,” the rooster cackled.

“H-how?” Gandra moaned.

There were failsafes to prevent people from hacking her nanites! How on Earth did they –

Black Heron raised her mechanical arm, a sneer on her long beak. “You really thought that I wouldn’t have a little backdoor just in case of such an emergency? You were so eager to get your hands on my neural-interface software that you didn’t even bother to check!”

Gandra felt the color drain from her face as her stomach formed a tight knot. That software had jumped her nanites’ development ahead by months, perhaps years. In using it, she’d handed over the keys to her own body to FOWL without ever realizing it.

“You also never bothered to set up a network mask when using the wifi.” Black Heron teasingly tsk’d. “For such a brilliant scientist, you’re bad at basic security. We’ve had our eyes on you ever since the Mark Beaks assignment when suddenly you kept looking up more and more information on Gizmoduck.”

“I’m very disappointed in you, Miss Dee,” Director Buzzard sternly scolded. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time to properly deal with and dispose of you right now, but in some ways this will likely be much worse for you. Steelbeak?”

“Got it, boss. Come here, you!” Steelbeak scooped Gandra up, tossing her over one shoulder like a sack of grain. He turned towards the door and started walking.

She wanted to kick and bite and beat her fists against the rooster, but her body refused to obey, still reeling from the aftereffects of that shock. She watched helplessly as Director Buzzard picked up her phone and turned it off before handing it off to Black Heron for disposal.

“Sorry to have to let you go.” He sounded like she was an employee being fired, not a doomed woman heading for a slow execution.

The door shut on her former lab.


End file.
